Let's talk about swimming! I read this article this week and it made me think a lot about lane etiquette. What are some lane etiquette rules that you think most people don't know about?
Post by mysticmuffin on Dec 16, 2016 12:22:30 GMT -5
That's so scary. All I know about lap swimming etiquette is that the people at my pool have none. They have no idea what to do. I had one guy get huffy and leave when I hopped in his lane (the least populated of the bunch) and asked to share.
That's so scary. All I know about lap swimming etiquette is that the people at my pool have none. They have no idea what to do. I had one guy get huffy and leave when I hopped in his lane (the least populated of the bunch) and asked to share.
The people at my Y are pretty good, but we had one lady once have an absolute cow when a couple of people in "her favorite lane" opted to swim extra cool-down laps after our class ended. They're Y members, the class is followed by a free swim period; therefore, they're allowed to swim for as long as they want. But this lady stood there and berated them for hogging the pool because the class is over and they need to get out. They'd told her she was more than welcome to hop in and share the lane, but she wasn't having it and just stood there with her arms folded tapping her foot.
WITH EMPTY LANES ON EITHER SIDE.
They were making fun of her SO HARD in the locker room.
Oh re: the gender sharing thing - more often than not I'm not going to end up sharing a lane with guys just because of a quirk of my pool's population. At the time I swim, at the pool where I swim - there are two kinds of male swimmers. 1. The super duper ridiculously fast people. I will lane split with them and just admire them as they lap me over and over and over again, but I avoid circle swimming with them because that's a lot of passing.
2. The guys who have clearly never received any swimming instruction ever. I avoid swimming in their lanes because they swim like off-kilter windmills and I'm afraid of getting hit. There's one guy who has kicked me more than once from the next lane over. I have no idea what's happening - it's just limbs everywhere.
For whatever reason - it just so happens that all the medium-slow swimmers who have a similar pool schedule to mine are women. So that's the lane I go for. There's on exception - one dude, always in the right-most lane, always does the same routine, always already in the pool when I get there no matter how early I arrive. (like I walk in the door as it's unlocked, he's there when I get in the pool) Never ever ever says a word. I share with him sometimes. I sit down and put my feet in, he comes to the wall, glances up at me, nods, and swims away. That's the extent of our interaction. We've probably lane shared like a dozen times. never a word.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Dec 16, 2016 13:14:11 GMT -5
When I was an AD, I regularly had members complain about sharing lanes. One even suggested creating a sign up sheet for half-hour blocks with exclusive lane use. I had a hard time not laughing in her face. Ridiculous.
I'm not aware of any protocol surrounding sharing lanes with people of the same sex. It might just fall out that way because I think people tend to gravitate toward sharing lanes with people of similar ability levels. That may lead to, e.g., men tending to share with more similar-speed men. I don't tend to swim with women specifically, though. I tend to aim to swim with the most experienced-looking person in the pool. Not so much because of speed (which wouldn't matter if you are straight swimming, two to a lane) but because people who are more experienced tend to behave more predictably so I don't feel like I need to keep an eye on them while I am swimming, and check to see where they are before I push off each time.
Probably just like in cycling, I tend to find that less experienced folks tend to crash more often, like described in the article. It can happen to anybody, but folks who have spent less hours/years doing it, are less likely to push off to the right side of the lane after a flip turn every. single. time. than somebody who's lived in the pool for years.
There are other kinds of impacts though that really can kind of happen to anybody. Somebody with a long wingspan doing butterfly, can clock somebody else in the face either in their own or an adjacent lane, same goes for a breaststroke kicker who can kick someone else in the face unintentionally. It's poor form to swim fly or breast in a narrow lane without taking some responsibility for watching out and making an effort to avoid a crash.
I used to swim in a masters group with a blind guy. It was awesome that he was doing it, but we all had to be really careful and take all the responsibility for avoiding crashes with him. I had to be a lot more aware and could not zone out at all.
speaking of swimming - my mama asked me yesterday to consult my experts (i.e. you guys)
Does she *need* a wetsuit for the Escape the Cape sprint tri first weekend in June? It's the Delaware Bay, Southern NJ. From event FAQs: The median water temperature for the Delaware Bay at the Ferry Terminal is 70 degrees in June. However, it can range from 55-75 F. Be prepared for cold H2O !
She's chubbyish and runs super hot. She's always that person wearing a light jacket when everybody else is in a parka and is afraid she's going to overheat if she wears a wetsuit. It's her first tri, first formal OWS event. (but far from her first endurance sport event) But she's been out on that water her whole life - grew up boating there and swims for fun in open water all the time so it's not like she's never been out of a pool. (like, hey...see that sandbar/buoy/whatever way the hell out there? wanna swim to it? sure!) She'll wear a wetsuit if it'd be stupid not to, but she's not really feeling like she needs the security blanket flotation aspect and is legit concerned about just being a sweaty hot mess. I plan to wear one (or at least have one to wear) but it'll be my first wetsuit wearing event, so I have no helpful insight for her.
I have never taken the gender of the person in to consideration when I have shared lanes. Where I used to live, and where I live now, I see men and women sharing all the time. I tend to look at the mechanics of the people swimming before figuring out where I'm going to jump in. I want someone who looks like they know what they are doing, and not someone who could be a liability. If I'm in a lane by myself, when another person wants to share with me, I always verify with them that a) they mean they want to split the lane and b) what side they want to be on.
I personally won't swim any kind of backstroke or do any back kicking drills when I'm lane sharing, because I can't do it in a straight line. I don't want to run in to someone.
I despise circle swimming. DESPISE.
wawa, I'd base the wetsuit decision for your mom based on the water temp. She sounds plenty comfortable in open water. If it's 70*, I'd say no. I'll swim down to 65* sans wetsuit. Any lower than that, then hell yes I'm wearing one.
wawa, I'm familiar with that race (although I haven't done it) and I'm very familiar with water temps in the area in June. (I spent 4 years working on the beach patrol in OCNJ, including early-season.) Including temps of >70 in the published range sounds really optimistic on their part! I would definitely expect 60s.
I don't think the swim is long enough or warm enough to end up a hot sweaty mess, and certainly not if she was in a sleeveless wetsuit. Most people do wear wetsuits for it. That said, 60s is not wetsuit mandatory IMO and I would not wear one myself (just because I don't like them).
Unlike many other tris with either a deep water start or a wade-in type start off a beach where you have a chance to acclimate before the race starts, the swim start of Escape the Cape requires you to jump in the water, dry, from the ferry. The temp is going to feel more shocking that way than most other swim starts. To me that would push gently in the direction of pro-wetsuit. If the idea of that doesn't bother her at all, then NBD, no wetsuit.
Missed this thread! Wow - that's scary about smacking heads so hard. Yikes! I have never thought genders when lane-sharing. Never occurred to me that it might be a consideration! Interesting.
I'm still learning lane etiquette, but I tend to swim at very quiet times of day so I have been lucky. However, I have turned up when I needed to share a lane. I stood watching for a bit to find someone swimming the same stroke and pace as me and then just waited until they were up the same end and asked if it was okay. (then let them go first, of course).
On two occasions I have had someone jump in my lane (my half of the lane that I was already sharing) and do breaststroke in front of me. One guy actually switched to my lane in the middle of the pool while I was in full flight. I virtually had to stop mid-pool. He didn't even stop at the end when I tapped his foot to indicate I was behind him. He just carried breaststroking along.
I think it would be really helpful if pools had lane etiquette rules posted. Some pools do, but not all.
Our pool is pretty small so I really couldn't imagine circle swimming. I'm not sure it's allowed since the lanes are too tight. I think it said two to a lane at the other pool I used to go to (same gym chain).
Weekday mornings I usually don't have to share. Weekend mornings are when it gets the most crowded. We get a lot of older people that are using the lane to do aqua aerobics or exercises, not swimming. I actually don't mind that since they only use a small portion of the pool and I get the lane to myself for the most part. One lady I let her into the lane, then she started going on my side and not paying attention. Then she invited her friend in.
I remember the first time I was pool running and wanted to share a lane because there was no other spot. The lady got pissed at me. It was so embarrassing since I thought I had done something wrong (I didn't really know much about pool etiquette then, but looking back that lady was just a bitch.